The 15th Annual Meeting of the China Association for Science and Technology (CAST), co-hosted by the CAST and the Guizhou Provincial People’s Government, was opened in Guiyang of Guizhou Province on May 25, 2013. Li Yuanchao, Member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, also China’s Vice President, attended the opening ceremony and delivered a speech. 

Han Qide, Vice Chairman of the CPPCC National Committee, also President of the China Association for Science and Technology, and Zhao Kezhi, Secretary-General of the Guizhou Provincial Party Committee, also Director of the Standing Committee of the Guizhou Provincial People’s Congress, addressed the opening ceremony. The opening also witnessed by the presence of Ma Peihua, Vice Chairman of the CPPCC National Committee, Sang Guowei, Vice Chairman of the Eleventh NPC Standing Committee, and Chen Min’er, Deputy Secretary-General of the Guizhou Provincial Party Committee, also the Governor of Guizhou Province. This forum was attended by more than 2500 renowned scientists and engineers, experts and scholars, as well as representatives of various science and technology societies and associations. Among them were over 100 CAE and CAS Members, such as CAE Members Xu Rigan and Xie Kechang, both Vice Presidents of the CAE, and CAE Members Wu Hequan, Liu Depei, Du Xiangwan and Zhu Gaofeng, all former Vice-Presidents of the CAE. At the opening ceremony, the Science and Technology Prize for Zhou Guangzhao Foundation as well as the Qiushi (meaning “seeking the truth”) Outstanding Youth Award for CAST were conferred to the prize winners. 

Five invited lectures were given right after the opening ceremony. CAE Member Sang Weiguo made his presentation on the development strategy of the bio-medicine industry in China as well as innovative medicine; Governor Chen Min’er spoke on innovation as the driving force for development; CAE Member Chen Zongmao focused his report on tea drinking and health; Wang Xiaodong, Member of the National Academy of Sciences, USA, talked about the development of the National Institute of Biological Sciences (NIBS), Beijing; CAS Member Fu Bojie gave a lecture on ecological system services and management. 
 

The Annual Meeting was themed on “Innovation Driver and Transformation Development” and composed of six major sections, that is, the opening ceremony, the invited lecture section, academic exchange section, science publicizing campaign section, specialized forums, discussion meeting section between government officials and experts, satellite meeting section, as well as special event section. A total of over 7700 science and technology personnel at home and from abroad participated in these activities, including 146 CAE and CAS Members, 116 representatives from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan of China, 52 foreign experts (including 4 Nobel Prize winners, 1 Turing Award winner and 1Balzan Prize winner), as well as representatives from 5 foreign science and technology organizations and institutions, namely, the Royal Society, UK, the Czech Science and Technology Association, the Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST), the Bulgaria Science and Technology Association, as well as the Embassy of Israel in China. 
 

CAE President Zhou Ji and Vice President Gan Yong attached great importance to the event, taking it as a major part of sci-tech cooperation among the CAE, the CAST and the Guizhou Province. As a matter of fact, this meeting also marked the very first cooperative effort made jointly by the CAE and CAST after the signing of a strategic cooperation framework agreement between the two. While the Annual Meeting was in session, the 161st China Engineering Science and Technology Forum on Integration of Military and Civilian Technologies, also the 14th sub-forum for the 15th Annual Meeting of the China Association for Science and Technology, was held. (By Zhao Xilu, June 2013; translated by Liu Chang)